News
Food and Drug Administration to test drinking water, cooking oil
The Myanmar Food and Drug Administration is taking action against peddlers of dirty “purified” water and fake peanut oil. Officials said for the safety of the public the FDA will be testing products consumed daily, going ward by ward to take samples. “First, we will take ...
Advanced voting prompts confusion
Election day is 8 November for most of Myanmar’s 32 million eligible voters, but advance voting – an extremely contentious issue in the 2010 polls – has already begun in some parts of the country. All states and regions have received their ballot papers, each carrying ...
The strongest El Nino in decades is going to mess with everything
It has choked Singapore with smoke, triggered Pacific typhoons and left Vietnamese coffee growers staring nervously at dwindling reservoirs. In Africa, cocoa farmers are blaming it for bad harvests, and in the Americas, it has Argentines bracing for lower milk production and Californians believing that ...
Malnutrition feared in Myanmar's hard-hit flood zones
Widespread malnutrition and food shortages are feared in the aftermath of devastating monsoon floods that wiped out large tracts of the agriculture and livestock industries, according to a new survey report. An assessment team from the United Nations, the World Food Programme and other international aid ...
Leaked WWF report: illegal logging in Laos 'a worst-case scenario'
Forests in Laos are disappearing at a ferocious rate under the impact of rampant illegal logging which accounts for 90% or more of the industry, with lucrative export markets in Vietnam and China. Keep reading ...
YCDC searches for more water as households run dry
Only 60 percent of Yangon’s water needs are being met, officials say. The Yangon City Development Committee is hunting for fresh sources, even as work proceeds to fix leaky pipes that lose half the water they are supposed to carry. The search for water security is part ...
Around 4 million voters shut out of Myanmar's election
When Myanmar votes next month in what has been billed as its first free and fair election in 25 years, Tun Lin, and around 4 million of his fellow citizens, won’t be taking part. Most, like the 33-year-old fisherman, are working overseas and have been unable to ...
Tourism Council of Thailand predicts foreign arrivals will hit 30m
The Tourism Council of Thailand projects foreign tourist arrivals will reach 30.3 million this year, growing 22% and surpassing the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s target of 28.8 million visitors. Tourism revenue from foreign tourists is expected to surge 21% to 1.42 trillion baht, slightly up from ...
Indonesia destroys Thai, Vietnamese trawlers
Photos from Indonesia on 21 October show the Indonesian navy blowing up fishing boats it seized from Thailand and Vietnam. Keep reading ...
Myanmar fishermen protest Thai hires
The hiring of Thai helmsmen on Myanmar fishing boats has been criticised by the local fishing industry. Two Myanmar companies last year hired Thai captains on the grounds that they were familiar with the use of sonar to find fish. Faced with opposition by local fishermen, the ...
